India Microfinance

As financial inclusion gains importance and larger spending from banks, software major TCS is targeting $ 100 million in revenues in the next four years from selling its last-mile connectivity solutions to banks, a top company official said.

“We will be getting around $ 100 million in revenues in the next three to four years from financial inclusion applications and serving 20 million people,” the company’s Chief Executive and Managing Director, N Chandrasekaran said. Read more on Economic Times

The Institute for Development and Research in Banking Technology signs MoU with IIT Kanpur

The Institute for Development and Research in Banking Technology (IDRBT), an institute under the Reserve Bank of India, on Friday signed a memorandum of understanding (MoU) with the Indian Institute of Technology Kanpur (IITK) for collaboration in academic and research activities. Read more on Business Standard

Banking on technology to bridge financial inclusion gap

A Wharton School study pegs the cost of a transaction at a bank branch at around $1 (Rs. 45). At an automated teller machine, it goes down to about $0.40. And done through business correspondents, the cost drops even lower to $0.10. Read more on Mint

Rama Bijapurkar: And the award goes to

We certainly have been a chaotic, noisy democracy this last year, with lots of societal churning. As mythology tells us, any churning done jointly by the good guys and the bad guys, yields both poison and nectar, and so we have had good, bad, ugly and funny incidents.

This year’s award for constructive disruption goes to the insurance regulator, who issued a fiat that insurance companies must diversify into insurance. It was a “shock and awe” regulation, as a foreign analyst dubbed it, but it ensured that the insurance industry applied its mind to moving beyond the comfortable value space of wealth management and mutual fund-like offerings with a garnish of insurance sprinkled on top. Read more on Sify